Add Your Piece of History… 19th July

• On this day in 1916.  The night of the 19th of July 1916 is sometimes referred to as Australia’s “worst day in history”.  This is the day the nation lost almost 2000 men in a single night, during World War I.   The Battle of Fromelles was the first significant battle fought by Australian troops on the Western Front.  It begun 19 days after the Battle of the Somme began, the main purpose of the Fromelles was to draw German troops away from being redeployed to the Somme from areas of the Western Front where less fighting was taking place.  The main battle commenced with an attack at 6:00pm by troops of the 5th Australian and 61st British Divisions.  The Australian troops were to attack from the north, from a point known as the ‘Sugarloaf’ while the British were to come in from the west.  The problem was that the Australian Division was inexperienced, while the British Division were under strength.  Although small sections of the German trenches were captured by the 8th and 14th Australian Brigades, the attack lacked the necessary element of surprise to be effective, as it was preceded by seven hours of artillery bombardment.  German machine gunners inflicted heavy damage on the Allied troops and by 8:00am the following morning, the Battle of Fromelles was all but over, and the troops forced to withdraw.  The 5th Australian Division suffered a total of 5,533 casualties, including over 1900 deaths, while the 61st British Division suffered 1,547 casualties, to the Germans’ 1,000.

 

• On this day in 1799.  The Rosetta Stone is discovered, holding the key to unlock the secrets of ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics.  The Rosetta Stone is a dark grey pinkish stone of granite, although it was originally thought to have been basalt.  It was discovered on the 19th of July 1799 by French Captain Pierre-Francois Bouchard during Napoleon Bonaparte’s campaign in Egypt.  The irregularly shaped stone inscribed with ancient writing was found near the town of Rosetta, approximately 60km north of Alexandria.  The stone contained fragments of passages written in 3 different scripts, Greek, Egyptian hieroglyphics and Demotic Egyptian.  The Greek passage stated that all 3 scripts were identical in meaning.  Because Greek was well known, the stone was the key to deciphering the hieroglyphs, a language that had been considered dead to two thousand years.  25 years later, French Egyptologist Jean Francois Champollion successfully deciphered the hieroglyphics.  It was the first time that the world became aware of the depth of the history and culture of ancient Egypt.

 

Please feel free to add your piece of history (something personal or general history).

 

Soldiers of the Australian 5th Division, waiting to attack during the Battle of Fromelles, July 19, 1916. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

 

Pierre-François Bouchard discovered the Rosetta Stone. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

 

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